very useful in amusing Geraldine, who was the only one of the little children in the same carriage with her. They slept at C as it would have been too late to Minna and Winifred

reach Pentyre that night. generally shared the same room on such occasions, but this time it was arranged that Minna should be with Beatrice, as Lady Fortrose did not like her to be alone in a hotel; so here was Winifred's first displacement.

It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when the party arrived at Pentyre. Beatrice had been loud in admiration of the country since they entered Wales, and her delight increased when she found that Lord Fortrose's property was situated among scenery as beautiful as any she had yet passed through.

Minna was very much pleased at the impression her deeply loved home seemed to make on Beatrice, but she restrained her eager happiness, till on rounding a wooded projection in the hillside, a broad expanse of sunlit sea lay before them, sparkling and glittering as each rippling wave caught the glow in its turn.

"There!" said Minna, turning first to Beatrice, and then again to the sea, with a beaming smile, almost of triumph.

Beatrice was indeed struck with the sight. It was very new to her. The whole coast was wild and very hilly, but beautifully wooded, and though the colouring was much less brilliant than that of Italy, the clear blue of the sea and sky, and the rich green of the foliage, left little to be desired even in that respect.

Winifred was delighted to see her own dear home again, but was very quiet in her happiness. She looked once and again at Beatrice, and apparently that questioning look was satisfied, and then she fixed her

eyes on the sea, and seemed unable to withdraw them from its ever-moving surface; for Winifred loved the sea better than any other object that could be presented to her view. She felt at home near it, and could scarcely feel comfortable with anybody who seemed insensible of the fascination it had for her.

"Yes, it really is lovely. Far more beautiful than I expected, and not at all dull," said Beatrice, as she stood with Minna outside the window of the drawingroom on the evening of their arrival.

"Dull !" said Minna, in a tone of surprise.

"Yes, I have often heard people say that the country is very dull, but I suppose that is where there is nothing pretty to look at. I feel as if I should never be

tired of this view."

"I almost think I should if I only saw it from here," said Minna; "but when you explore it all, when you know all the paths, and every hill, and wood, and rock quite well, as I do, you will not be able to love it enough, much less get tired of it; but do you like walking?"

"Yes, very much, when it is a pretty walk, and I have nice people to walk with; but you and Winifred ride, do you not?"

"Yes, and you will, too, I suppose."

"No, indeed, I shall not. I never ride."

"But would you not like it? will you not learn here ?"

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'No, I thank you; I dislike it very much. They put me on a horse once when I was little, to please papa, who thought I ought to ride, and I could not manage the creature a bit, and I was dreadfully frightened, for he ran away with me. I was not

thrown, and somebody soon stopped the horse; but that cured me of wishing to ride."

"But what made the horse run away?"

Why, that was the worst of it; they said it was all my fault. I was told not to take a whip, and I would, and they let me; but I was not to use it. So we went on very well for a little while, as the coachman was leading the horse; but he left go to open a gate, and I whipped the horse to make it go through quickly, and off it flew, for it was a horse that never would bear the whip."

"I wonder you did not ride it again without any whip," said Minna.

"I should not have enjoyed riding. I like to do as I please, and not to be obliged to manage a horse this way and that way, as other people tell me, so I should be sure to get into scrapes."

"Well, I am very glad you like walking, as it does not matter generally which way one goes. So you will be able to do as you please," said Minna, laughing, "as I do not suppose anybody will wish to tell you how to manage your feet when walk." you

But Minna was rather too sanguine. Even walking did not enable Beatrice to do as she pleased about her excursions.

One very warm day she entered the school-room at about half-past twelve, exclaiming—

"Now, Minna, come; you must have finished, and I am so tired of practising. There is plenty of time before dinner, so let us go down to the Bishop's Cove."

"My dear Beatrice, it is so dreadfully hot, and there will be no shade going down the cliff; I really don't think we can go now."

"Oh, yes; you can take an umbrella, if you are afraid of the sun, and we can go perfectly well."

"No, indeed, I am sure we had better not; it would be impossible to hold up an umbrella while we are scrambling down that path. Can we not take some more shady walk?”

"Oh, what nonsense, Minna; one would think you were sugar or wax to be melted by the heat; but if you wont go, never mind. I dare say Winifred will; won't you, there's a darling," she added, turning to Winifred, who was standing by her governess, watching the correction of a mistake in her work, and so intent upon it that she did not hear what had passed.

She looked up brightly as Beatrice addressed her, however.

"What do you want me to do? I did not hear." "Go with me for a nice scrambling walk, you deaf little thing."

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Oh, I should like it so much. May I go, Miss Forbes ?"

"No, dear, I think not; it is too hot for you to go on the cliffs so early in the day. I am sorry to disappoint you, Lady Beatrice, but I really cannot let Winifred go."

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Why, really, Miss Forbes, the day is not hot enough for all this fuss; it can't hurt her."

"I think the day is much too hot for a fuss," sighed Minna, over her book.

"You are all perfectly ridiculous about the heat," said Beatrice, impatiently. "I wonder what you would do in Italy?"

"In Italy," said Miss Forbes, "I always used to remain in doors and keep as quiet as I could until the

E

great heat of the day was passed. Was not that your plan also ?"

"Well, yes, generally; but I don't mind heat. I did not know you had been in Italy, Miss Forbes."

"Yes, I spent three years there, and had only just returned when I came to take charge of Minna's education."

"Really, three years! I am so glad, for I shall enjoy talking to you about it; it is so wretched to be with people who know nothing of places one likes. I suppose you liked Italy, notwithstanding the heat," she added, with a good-humoured, half apologetic smile.

"Yes," said Miss Forbes, "I liked it very much, and shall greatly enjoy going over my recollections of it with you. But, as you wished for a walk this morning, shall we all go down to the shrubbery bench? there is shade all the way, and we can take our books or work."

This proposal was well received, and immediately adopted. And so ended Beatrice's first attempt to do as she pleased with Miss Forbes.

But there were many more propitious days when the young people wandered at will over hill and valley, exploring unfrequented paths, finding new scenes of beauty, and bestowing names of their own selection on different spots that were rich in happy association or bore some resemblance to scenery, of which books had made the description familiar to them.

Certainly Pentyre was not dull. Lady Elizabeth had made a mistake, which Beatrice took care to correct in her letters.

If the days were passed pleasantly, the evenings were no less enjoyable. Games of history, poetry, or any of the numerous devices by which young people